Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings in the village of Castelnuovo, central Italy, on April 6, 2009. / Alessandra Tarantino, AP

by USA TODAY

by USA TODAY

A court in L'Aquila, Italy, has convicted four people in the collapse of a university dormitory during the 2009 earthquake in that Apennine mountain town. Eight students died in the collapse during the powerful quake, which struck in the pre-dawn hours of April 6, 2009.

The four who were convicted Saturday are Italian technicians accused of carrying out shoddy reconstruction work in 2000 on the dormitory. Three were sentenced to four years in prison, while the fourth man received a 2 ½ year sentence.

Four other defendants were acquitted.

In a separate trial, seven quake experts were convicted last year of manslaughter for failing to adequately warn about the temblor, despite scientific contentions that it's impossible to predict quakes.

The quake killed more than 300 people in the tremor-prone area.

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